Russian Horse Grenadiers in Summer Waistcoats

Russian Horse Grenadiers in Waistcoats. The officers always wore their blue coats.

I finished painting a 12-figure squadron of the new Minden Russian Horse Grenadiers in Summer waistcoats. The regiment can be made using one pack of MRC-006 Horse Grenadier Command (officer, standard bearer and musician) and three packs of MRC-008 Horse Grenadiers in Waistcoats (3 per pack). If you are more interested in the rank and file wearing blue coats, then select MRC-007 Horse Grenadiers to fill out your unit.

The buff colored waistcoat with blue cuffs and collar is an attractive uniform and provides a nice contrast to the regular blue coats worn by the horse grenadiers and dragoons. During the Summer campaign season all of the cavalry shed their coats and fought wearing the sleeved waistcoat, even the cuirassiers.

The officers and musicians always wore their regular blue coats regardless of the season, I suppose to make them easier to see by the rank and file cavalrymen.

I ordered some 2-inch square bases from Litko and will have to wait until they arrive before I can attach the horse grenadiers to the bases, two horse per base, or a 1-inch frontage per horse.

So which regiment are these fellow? It doesn't matter, they can be any regiment because all horse grenadiers wore the same uniforms and there were no regimental distinctions.

The Wargamers' Annual 2020 Has Arrived

The new Wargamers' Annual 2020 by Charles S. Grant and a host of other wargamers .

My copy of the Wargamers' Annual 2020 ("Annual") arrived in the mail today. Charles S. Grant organizes and edits the Annual each year and it is published by Partizan Press. I am a regular contributor the Annuals so I get to have a brief moment of fame when one of my articles is published therein.

This year's Annual is a full-color 72-page publication with articles by 12 wargamers from around the world. While it is an eclectic collection of articles on various subjects, I am particularly pleased and honored to see that Minden Miniatures and Crann Tara Miniatures are prominently featured throughout the book:

Invasion 1744 (Part 2) by Graham Cummings. The article continues Graham's account of a  hypothetical French invasion of Britain during the War of Austrian Succession. As you can imagine, there are lots of lovely Crann Tara figures on display.

Let's Get...Small by Jim Purky. My article talks about skirmish level wargames for the Seven Year War in Europe. Again, what a coincidence, there are lots of pictures of Minden Miniatures throughout the article.

My Summer Painting Challenge Diary by Stokes Schwartz.  Stokes recounts his painting challenge to paint a large battalion of Minden Prussian grenadiers - the challenge being to finish all of the figures within one month.

The variety of articles covers historical eras such as Alexander the Great, the ECW, WW1 air battles, the Meiji Restoration in Japan, British Colonial Sudan adventures, the Spanish Civil War, Romans vs. Gauls, and how to build your own dice tray.

A quick perusal and thumb through of the book indicates that there are a lot quality, well-written pieces and I plan to employ my usual strategy of reading it cover to cover, starting with the very first article and working my way in exact page order until I reach the end. Thus my first read is Dale Smith's "Chaeronea 338BC" article. The game played out historically with the Macedonians defeating the Greeks, however, Alexander was not so great this day.

At the end of the book, there is more eye candy with the "Vignette Challenge" in which authors and/or readers submit the historical vignettes that they have painted and based. And finally, Charles mentions how walking historical battlefields contributes greatly to his understanding of the battle and he has issued a challenge for someone to write a piece about visiting a battlefield today.  Hmm, I just might take up that challenge for my article in the 2021 Annual.

Battle of Leuthen Day

Entrance to the Leuthen churchyard, defended by the Rot Wurzburg regiment

December 5th is the anniversary day of Frederick the Great's victory in the Battle of Leuthen, fought December 5, 1757. Leuthen was Frederick's signature battle, featuring the employment of the Prussian oblique order tactics, and is probably what established Frederick as one of the great captain-generals in history.

I have posted some of the pictures of the Leuthen church that I took in October 2016 when I visited the site during Christopher Duffy's guided tour.

You can see the relative height of the church walls by comparing it to the people.
That is Christopher Duffy in the center-right of the picture.

The signature round corner walls of the Leuthen church

Another view of the corner round walls

A street view of the village of Leuthen shows that it is relatively unchanged from how it would have appeared in the 18th Century (save for the asphalt road pavement and the power lines in the distance)

Relatively flat terrain around Leuthen made for easy maneuvering during the battle.

And now, some pictures of my wargame of Leuthen fought on December 5, 2016, featuring the Prussian attack on the left flank of the Reichs Army troops.

Prussian Guards brigade (left) rolling over the Wurtemburg troops.

Austrian artillery battery is about to be charged in the flank by the Prussian Black Hussars.

Prussian 12-pound Brummers advance and deploy on the Juden-berg
to provide close artillery support for the Prussian attack.

Action on the Austrian left flank. The Prussians have cleared the Reichs Army troops from Sagschutz and prepare to strike Austrian infantry in the flank.

Huge cavalry scrum near Sagschutz on the Austrian left flank.

Austrian infantry wheels left and forms a new battle line that faces the Prussian attack around Sagschutz

Austrians and Prussians engage in a firefight.

An overview of the battle of Leuthen on the Austrian left flank.

Every so often I recreate the Battle of Leuthen on the tabletop, and while I did not do so this year, my photo archive is well stocked with photos of Leuthen games.

Tiberius Canis

Ty is highly focused on the love of his life, Mrs. Fritz

We got the biopsy back on Tiberius ' ("Ty" for short) and he has hermangia, cancer of the blood vessels. And while the doctors removed all of the cancerous tumor several weeks ago, we were told that Ty has a particularly aggressive form of cancer and that tumors  can return at any time.

Ty is given 2 to 3 months to live in all likelihood. With some medicinal treatments his life could extend 6 to 12 months. So we are going to give that a try, but we are not going to do chemotherapy due to the side effects. We will bring Ty back to the vet on a monthly basis to monitor the cancer and to be able to make an informed decision as to when to put Ty down.

For now, Ty seems to be his happy old self. He has a good appetite again and he is raring to go on longer walks again, but the vet told us to start with short walks and let him build up to doing longer walks.

Ty's favorite sleeping position, on his back.

Ty always has to have a soft toy in his mouth.

This morning, I went to the post office to mail some Fife and Drum Miniatures orders, and I took Ty along with me. He was very well behaved inside the post office and everyone wanted to pet him. Golden Retrievers have that effect on people - everybody loves a Golden and they soon attract a lot of attention when you bring them somewhere.

I don't normally bring Ty with me when I'm doing errands, but this time I thought, "why not?"  I plan to take him with me more often as I do my errands in the coming months and spend as much time with him as possible.

Sale 20% Discount Extended One More Day to Tuesday Dec. 3rd

A couple of people were having problems with the shopping cart not adding items that are ordered. So I am extending the Black Friday Week Sale by one more day to Tuesday December 3, 2019 to accomodate anyone having a gremlin glitch. Enter coupon code LP1998 and then click "Apply" to get the 20% discount.

I think that the problem might be attempting to purchase Regimental Packs ("RP"s), which I have made unavailable during the Black Friday Week Sale, because RPs are already sold at a discount and it doesn't make sense to discount a product that is already sold at a discount. Once the sale is over I will turn the availability back on for the RPs. RPs are sold at discounts varying from 12% to 17% so you could order individual packs that would be the equivalent of an RP, but you would get a 20% discount instead of the lower RP discount.

I have done  a couple of test orders and everything seems to be working OK. If you are still having a problem with the shopping cart, then Plan B is to send me an email with your order and then I will send you an invoice via PayPal to complete your order.

My email address is:

altefritz1740@yahoo.com

Any email order received prior to 11:59PM Central Standard Time on Tuesday December 3, 2019 will be given the 20% discount.

cheers,

Jim

Black Friday Week Sale - Three Days Left

Minden officer figures inspect the French field hospital at the Battle of Fontenoy in 1745.
Vignette by Danny Fogleman

This is just a quick reminder that the Fife and Drum Miniatures / Minden Miniatures Black Friday Week Sale runs through Monday December 2, 2019. So there is still time to take advantage of the 20% discount that we are offering during this sale. Enter coupon code LP1998 to get your discount when you check out from the web store.

Fife and Drum Web Store

Thank you to everyone for your support of Fife and Drum Miniatures / Minden Miniatures in 2019.

SYW Camp Scenes Thanksgiving

King Louis XV of France and his retinue are enjoying an afternoon picnic.Thanksgiving perhaps?
Vignette created by Ed Phillips.

Thanksgiving Greetings

I would like to wish everyone in the United States a happy Thanksgiving. Here's to lots of good food, good conversation and hopefully your football team will win its game. We had our Thanksgiving gathering at the English Room at the Deerpath Inn in Hesse Seewald this afternoon - just the immediate family this year as everyone else is scattered hither and yon around the world. Nevertheless, we are grateful to have our family together and to have everyone in good health.

Here are some pictures of some of the Seven Years War combatants taking a day off in their Winter quarters and celebrating the holiday:

Prussian camp with King Frederick II issuing the daily orders to his senior officers.

Marshall Daun and his staff in the Austrian camp.

Maurice de Saxe and his retinue (Minden Miniatures) are journeying to their Thanksgiving dinner with King Louis XV. Vignette by Danny Fogleman.

Things are rather quiet in the Russian camp this afternoon.

Black Friday Sale Continues

I gave the shipping department the day off today since they will be working all out tomorrow and through the weekend as Fife and Drum Miniatures continues is Black Friday Week Sale. Get a 20% discount on all eligible products by entering the coupon code LP1998 when you check out at our web store:

Fife and Drum Miniatures Web Store

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